For those of you who want to get most out of your Sprint Galaxy S3 SPH-L710, T-Mobile Galaxy S3 SGH-T999, or AT&T Galaxy S3 SGH-i717, you will certainly want to root your Galaxy S3. Rooting your Galaxy S3 gives you lots of benefits like full control over your phone, ability to install custom ROMs, and a whole lot more. (If you would like a longer video explanation of what rooting does, please see this video “Why Root My Android Smartphone?”.

Step 6. Double-click on odin3 v1.85.exe file to start ODIN. You should see a yellow highlighted box with a COM number. The number doesn’t matter just so long as you see a yellow box. If you don’t see yellow box, your drivers are not installed correctly OR try killing Kies in Task Manager as sometimes it can interfere.

Step 8. In about 10 seconds, your phone will reboot and give you ClockworkMod Recovery.

Step 9. You will get a “PASS!” if everything went correctly.

Step 10. Once your Galaxy S3 reboots, copy over the file CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip from the folder GalaxyS3RootSprint to the internal storage or SD card of your phone.

Step 11. Reboot into ClockworkMod Recovery by holding down Volume Up, Center Home, and Power button together for about 10 seconds.

For T-Mobile Galaxy S3, if you have trouble getting into ClockworkMod Recovery, try letting go of the Power button after the phone reset, the Tmo version is a bit trickier to get into Recovery you have to let go of the power button when your phone resets.

FAQ

Q: Does this root method erase my settings and apps?
A: No, it doesn’t touch a thing, very safe to do.

Q: I ended up in Kernel panic mode, what do I do?
A: Relax, that’s same as ODIN download mode, simply run ODIN again and flash the files again, it will work.

More questions? Please leave in the comment section below for help from author and other users.

More on this Root Method

This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works.

Congratulations! You’ve rooted your Galaxy S3! That was easy right?

FAQ

Q: Does this root method erase my settings and apps?
A: No, it doesn’t touch a thing, very safe to do.

Q: ODIN does not start on my computer, what do I do?
A: Sometimes various Windows programs and drivers interfere with ODIN, try closing/killing any programs before running the program. If that does’t work, just use another computer.

Q: I ended up in Kernel panic mode, what do I do?
A: Relax, that’s same as ODIN download mode, simply run ODIN again and flash the files again, it will work.

Q: I don’t get ClockworkMod Recovery like you do, just get Android with belly open.
A: If you’ve updated to newer software update, the stock OS will over-write ClockworkMod Recovery on reboot. To fix this, make sure “auto-reboot” is checked off in ODIN, then take the battery out when it’s done flashing in ODIN. Then enter ClockworkMod Recovery right away.

More questions? Please leave in the comment section below for help from author and other users.

More on this Root Method

This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works.

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Galaxy S3 Reference
You will need a rooted Galaxy S3 to install all ROM/kernels.NOTE: PLEASE ONLY INSTALL ROMS INTENDED FOR YOUR VERSION OF GALAXY S3! Otherwise you WILL BRICK YOUR PHONE and I will not be responsible!
First time to rooting and custom ROMs? Please see our Galaxy S3 Root FAQ FIRST!

I cant this to work. I pass the odin and my phone reboots but when i try to boot into cwm recovery my phone goes into stock recovery. please get back to me asap. If this helps I just purchased my phone today from sprint and when the sales rep fired it up there was a system update and he updated it. Could this be my problem

Great Job! At least I can get to CW Mod now, but still no boot up. Any chance we can get the original SGS3 Sprint boot.img file or better yet a restorable odin image, I must have hosed my boot image when I mistakenly tried to install the I-9300 Boot Image on my US Sprint version yesterday.

what you are seeing is odin writing CWM Recovery. after that, you have to go into recovery by holding home, pressing volume up, and power button at the same time. when the phone vibrates, release the power button, but continue holding the other 2 buttons. this should bring you into CWM recovery. from there, you flash the SU file depending on where you put it

Very wonderfully worked with my new AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 and now my phone is rooted. One question to Max. Hey somehow I was using Mobile hotspot in my old AT&T Samsung Infuse by freezing tethering service from ATT and with my regular data plan. Now in my Samsung Galaxy S3 I can not do that. Do you have any idea how to use Mobile hotspot in AT&T with my regular data plan ?

I also would like to know how to get free WiFi by using my gs3 from sprint and be able to link itbwith my iPad 3? What apps do u recommend? I need a new keyboard I really don’t like the gs3 one. I had better keyboards 8 but I can’t find it. Thanks you are my hero!!

Max, there seems to be an issue about apps to sd card. On the XDA site many posts about people not being able to allow any google play store apps to their sd cards. Is this true and if so do you know of any work around. My phone should arrive tomorrow and just trying to get familiar with all issues with this phone. If rooted would this solve this issue??? People are downloading large games and can not put them on their sd cards, I ask if this is true what the hell good is the sd card?? Did Samsung drop the ball on this?? Somone wrote to Samsung and got back a letter blaming it on ICS. I have several devices with stock ICS and I have no issue with apps to sd card. My SGS2 on T-Mo and on AT&T both allow apps to sd card. Any response would be appreciated. I am a long time follower and trust your judgement.
Thanks,
Vinny

Any chance you can review that in AOKP? I have two GS2 phones, one fron AT&T and the other from T-Mobile and both do not have this issue. They both are running TouchWiz. This is obviously just with the SGS3, this is very disturbing and many people are freaking out over this. Is there a work around in the stock system with root of course??? I really hope so, I throw as many apps to the sd card, spent allot of money on a 64gb class 10 sd card and was going to use that with my newly ordered SGS3 that I should receive Thursday night, I hope. Can you figure out some code to enter for a work around, if anyone can you can????
Thanks Max for all the hard work,
Vinny

seemed like it all worked, except for the fact that i cannot get the phone to boot into clockwork mod. i got a pass and a green square on odin and the file are copied on both the phone and the sd card. please advise.
thanks.

After the clockworkmod.tar on my AT&T SGH-I747, the Odi shown “passed” but my phone could not reboot again. Try to go into the clockworkmod recovery but there is no zip file in the card. Can some some please show me how to fix the problem? Is my phone bricked? If so how can I restore to factory setting. Thanks!

Hi Max, thank you for replying to my post. After i started the ODI. It shown passed, but my phone did not reboot and go to Clockworkmod recovery. I can get into clockworkmod recovery only when I press the volume up, power, and center home keys. But when I dont press the 3 keys altogether the phone could not start. I have the zip file in the Micro SD card, but it just not show on the recovery mode. Is there any way I can go back to factory reset and perform the rooting process again? Is my phone bricked?

hi max.. thanks for the video.. it was a success for my galaxy s3 tmobile version.. one question… how to do get free tethering like you did on the galaxy s2. because for titanium backup doesn’t show tethering managing. SO which app do you freeze? thanks you ahead.

Is there a video to show how to unroot or a rom to return to stock? I have having all kinds of problems with my stock rom. I keep getting error messsages, I cant install apps, they download but they will not install. I cant view pics on my sd, i can listen to music on my sd(internal). Its like i cant access anything on the internal drive. Any help would be appreciated….thanks.

I’m still waiting for my verizon S3 but have been checking out various root guides. I’ve read that triangle away doesn’t work on the US S3 variants. Has a method to reset the counters on the US S3s been devised yet? The only way I’ve seen so far is the manual root method from XDA, but is been over 10 years since I’ve done much with Linux so I’d rater use a simpler method if at all possible.

Confirmed works on Rogers! Thank you so much bro, not as brain dead as super1click but gets er done and quite easy. A couple extra little notes:
1. Make sure to not put the ZIP on the external SDCARD. Even though I force mounted it I still couldn’t get at it so I just rebooted and moved it to the internal SDCARD (phone) plus things are so nice and tidy there! My 16GB micro sd has made it through 4 phones and is getting messy. 2 I would add a suggestion to disconnect the usb cable before clockwork, the rogers phone is a PITA to get into recovery too but the releasing power thing does the trick, not if you forgot to disconnect the USB though. Gotta go hack my smurfs game now so I can put a zillion smurfberries on it for the kids and figure out what other trouble I can get into! Thanks again bro, you are a scholar and a gentleman!

I have tried to download the zip file on windows 7 64 bit and also on the Windows XP virtual machine on my windows 7 system. Both times it says that the file is invalid or corrupt. Am i doing something wrong? I am way excited to root my phone i just cant seem to get the galaxys3rootsprint.zip file. Please help!!!!!

Hey Max, really quick question..
For some reason, my galaxy s3 (Sprint) is not entering download mode..
When I hold down power, volume down, and home button, the phone just does a normal restart if its already on or if i turn it off and do those steps, it just boots up normally..

Is there something I’m doing wrong or should check for?
Is there an app that I can install that will put the phone in download mode for me?

Thanks a lot, I’ve been following all ur posts for over a year since I had the evo 4h.. Great Stuff!!

I had the same problem and I believe I let go the power button either right after I turned the phone off or on, I tried it a few times. I have sprint and ran into the same issue. and now is working beautifully. hope this helps.

so you’re saying I should let go of the power immediately after the phone turns on/restarts? I’m pretty sure that’s what I’ve been doing all along.. Also, I tried continuously holding the buttons too.. still no help.. can you clarify on your methods? thanks!

I was trying every way but if im not wrong I think I turned my phone off, then pressed all three buttons and right before the home screen came on, I let go the power or it was the other way around…by pressing the three buttons with phone on and lettting the power button go right before it turns off. Its kinda confusing but if you see my post above to max I was experiencing the same problem and just by following one of his earlier posts where he mentions this I got it to go into download mode.

Max post “Try letting go of the Power button after the phone reset, the Tmo version is a bit trickier to get into Recovery you have to let go of the power button when your phone resets.”

Hey Max, really quick question..
For some reason, my galaxy s3 (Sprint) is not entering download mode..
When I hold down power, volume down, and home button, the phone just does a normal restart if its already on or if i turn it off and do those steps, it just boots up normally..

Is there something I’m doing wrong or should check for?
Is there an app that I can install that will put the phone in download mode for me?

Thanks a lot, I’ve been following all ur posts for over a year since I had the evo 4h.. Great Stuff!!

Max,
I have noticed very dark ink spot like dots on my screen when I look at it in the dark with the File Explorer, or any dark photos. Do you have that same problem with any of the S3 you have with you? I read somewhere else online that other people have the same thing. I have the AT&T Pebble Blue Version. Will this become a larger problem later? Thanks!

I had those black dots on my phone. I noticed them the same day I got the phone. only noticeable on black screen and very low light. I called sprint and after talking to 6 different reps got a replacement. don’t know if it’s an issue but that problem I noticed before rooting my phone.

Hi. This guide is said to work with the SGH-i717. I live in canada I just got the S3 from Telus my model # is SGH-i717M . Will this method work not sure if it’s a totally different model or just a code for canada.

Does this method increase my binary flash counter? In other words… if i am to root the device using this method, then were un-root it to send it in for warranty (fix, replacement, etc), would AT&T and/or samsung be able to tell that I had previously rooted it?

Im trying to do this on my Bell/Virgin GS3 (I747m), but when I hit the “Start” button on Odin, it says “Fail” and have this message “Can’t open the serial(COM)port. What does that mean and what should I do?

Update: I just tried it again and it worked. Now I’m rooted. My phone is SGH-I747M (Bell/Virgin Mobile Canada). This is the first time I rooted an Android phone, I came from jailbroken iPhone 4. My main reason in rooting is that I’m having issue on my battery coz it drains so fast and I found out that I have to change the “power_profile.xml”. Now my question is, how do I access my phone’s system files?

Really? I gave up trying coz I don’t know to unpack and repack an apk file. Tried google but the applications I downloaded and installed failed to work. I think I will just wait for Samsung’s official update (but for how long?). After I fully charge my battery, when I unplug it, it decreses 2% right away, I was like WTF? I also read that the affected models are the international ones but why is our model affected too? Do you know if it’s on just some model coz I’m thinking of going back to my carrier and have the phone changed and maybe I’ll be luck to get a unit that don’t have this problem.

Thanks Max. You’re tutorial is really easy to follow and understand though I was having trouble on the first step, couldn’t get my phone to download mode coz I’m not on USB debugging. =) Now I’m trying to discover what I can do on my newly rooted S3. Got any suggestions?

Jayson, how long did you have to hold the buttons to get into download mode. I am on Virgin and I cannot seem to enter download mode. All it does it shut down and stay shut down as long as I hold the buttons (I tried for a full minute). When I finally let go, it just restarts normally. I have tried with USB debugging both on and off and I get the same result both ways.

hey max i am a loyal follower of ur vids awesome!! but im trying to root my gs3 sprint version and i got all the way up until i go into recovery IT TAKES ME FOREVER LOL but when i do get there its not cwm recov its android system recov and it doesnt have the same options as cwm Y IS IT DOING THIS AND WHAT DO I DOOOOO????

His solution to uncheck “auto reboot” in Odin and the battery pull works like a charm.

Apparently this Galaxy has Recovery 3e which requires the ZIP files to be digitally signed otherwise it won’t allow you to install unsigned ZIP files. Somehow Matt’s workaround defeats this. Awesome work Matt & thanks Max for this great site.

I just got my new Sprint Galaxy S3 and went thtough all the instructions by the numbers.. I can not get my Sprint G3 to load the Clockworkmod. It passes with the green box but but keeps loading into the stock loader.. I see Max is getting the Sprint G3, and hope that he can figure out what a few os us sprint users are experiancing.. Thanks Max for your Help..

Max I can’t seem to get Clockwordmod to load up either…. I have Odin and the green box loaded up correctly but no matter how I try and hit volume up, power and home…. I can’t seem to get Clockwordmod to load up so I can install superuser… please help!

THis is a Sprint Galaxy G3.. also When O did the oden it in fact show a green pass and appeared like everything went as it should I saw nothing downloading to my phone as I did when I did the CWM on my G2. Should Iry the oden CWM again with auto boot off and do the battery pull..?..
I Also had a hard time with the Vol up home and power to get into the bootloader.. just would freeze after the samsung logo showd..

1. Took off Auto Reset from Odin
2. Once complete, unplug phone off the USB cable than pull out battery.
3. Slide battery back in and Hold Volume up, Home Button, + Power Button at once
* Once you see the Samsung Logo with a Blue Message at the top right hand corner, release all 3 buttons. This Logo only really appears for maybe a second or two, so be quick. If you dont get it, start back at step one, cause i think its rewriting the recovery image to your phone.
Once I got it on my first try, I get the CWM recovery image.
I dont see an option to Install from Internal Memory, only External. So i suggest you but the SuperUser .Tar zip file on your SD Card.

max i am 53… look i followed your instruction to a tee.. first of all i held the three buttons down to go into download mode .. it takes a screen shot.. trust me i had three friends try it and the same thing happened to them.. and as i kept on holding the three all it did is reboot. so i powered off and then held the three buttons and i got it into down load mode that way… i put kies on my computer i opened up odin the clockwork.tar is white like it did not fill in completely . it stil had 6,444kb in details. but it still was not colored in like yours. so i erased it and downloaded it with my virus protection off and it turned out the same. so i ran odin and the green square came up just like in your video and so when i click pda and the clockwork . tar comes up automatically . i then press start and it says it is good then i close odin like you said and my cell phone shows up and i copy and paste the super su.. file on my external sd card. .. then i disconnect my phone from the computer… then i press and hold the three buttons just like you said .. vol..up and center home and power ..and yes it took a screen shot again.. so i powered off and pressed the three buttons again and it went to the right screen.. but there was no line that said to unzip anything.. there was a line that said “download update from sd card.. .. i tried the old version of odin 4 times and the new version 4 times.. each time i would delete them all the way form my computer and start from scratch.. and each time i downloaded the sprint root. and then i opened up odin.. never once did the black icon for the clockwork.tar ever fill in… it was always white.. does that mean anything… and honestly i push the buttons right .. but when the phone is powered on.. it takes a screen shot and if i continue holding the buttons..it just reboots..and yes i connected my phone back up and i can see CWM super su zip file is there.. i even erased it from my phone twice and tried it from scratch .. .. grrrrrr i am so frustrated .. i have sprint .. i got it july 1st

thanks for all your info and tutorials………………………………
can you PLEASE help me out with a small issue???
everything installed fine as usual, but for some reason, whenever i try to access my sd card from CWM recovery but it doesnt show up. i go to “mounts and format” and mount the sd card, but still no luck. i always store my flashables on the sd card. is there any way to get this to start working again? thanks bro……….

To anyone on Sprint that’s having issues booting into clockwork instead of stock recovery, even after a successful odin install. Try reinstalling clockwork again through odin but uncheck “auto reboot.” After you get pass and a successful install, take out your phone’s battery and put back in. And then hold VolUp+home+power (let go of power only after the phone vibrates). And it should boot you into clockwork. I was having the same issues until I tried this.

Now, does anyone know how to enable spell checker on S3 when I type my emails? no, not predictive text, just a simple underline and then I tap on the word and see possible options? I send 2 hours on the phone with ATT and with Samsung and they claim it cannot be done. As far as i know, it’s a standard feature of the ICS.

I can’t seem to get the phone into recovery mode to load the zip file. It’s in stock recovery mode I believe, not the same one you show on your video. I even let go of power button many different times on restart and tried not letting go of it and nothing seems to be working. Any help?

For those of you having problems and seeing “update from sdcard” and not “install sdcard”, redo the process but in ODIN, uncheck the auto-reboot box. Take the battery out, put it back in and then continue the steps, worked like a charm for me.
It should also be noted that the volume button+home button+power button commands to enter download mode or otherwise must be done while the phone is off. If it just reboots and doesn’t enter the mode you want, try releasing the power button as soon as you feel it vibrate or turn on

For those of you who cant get into Clockwork Bootloader. The latest Sprint updates are the culprit. If you have installed the updates before you rooted it. It will re-load the default bootloader every time. Pulling the battery after the odin flash reboots it defeats this, but only for one boot sequence. Don’t know if anyone has a more permanent method or not.

I completed the root. It shows the super user app. I installed titanium backup and when i went to grant permission for it I got an error that says this: Sorry, I could not acquire root privileges. This application will not work. Please verify that your rom is rooted and includes busy box and try again. This attempt was made using the “/system/xbin/su” command.

The first time I tried the sprint way which seems like the same way and couldn’t get the second part to show when restarted. I just noticed recently before this new root link you posted i couldn’t get wifi at all. I still can’t. I am not sure why when it shows I connect to my wifi but wont engage.Maybe I need to un root my phone? Is it safe to do without bricking my phone? I just want everything to work good like it did when I first got it again. Help?

Thank you all the same though sir, I am subscribed to you in almost every way I can and learn almost everything you come out with so I can help my friends and family with their phones and tablets. I know you put a lot of work into investing and learning this stuff yourself and I just want you to know that I, personally, appreciate it more than you know.

No matter what I do I can’t get my phone to enter download mode. All my phone does is capture a screen shot. I hold down vol. Down home key and power it snaps a screen shot and the reboots everytime am I doing something worng? Please advise thankyou

My Sprint Samsung Model SPH-L710 was just updated to JB version. Will this rooting process still work? What is the good website to download odin3 v1.85.exe. When i try to run it, a box with Chinese letters pops up with OK button only. Nothing happens after that. Help?

I have a sprint s3 and I am having trouble when it comes to flashing the supersu. I am pressing the volume up, center button, and the power button but it keeps taking me to the android system recovery. My screen is of android laying down not the clock mod symbol. What am I doing wrong?

i tried this and now i cant properly root my s3 i cant even do the unroot because samsungs security wont even run the superSU so pretty much im stuck untill i can find a way to get it back to before i tried this method of rooting…. i tried unrooting and research but cant find anything so far to help…..